Hunting fish with your bow...

[JimA]

How many of you shoot rough fish with your bows? I am getting ready to start watching the shallow inlets and canals near Lake Erie for carp and dogfish. It should begin to warm up here soon and bring some action.

I wasn't sure if I should put this in the fishing section or not . :? It's much more like hunting.

 

[cur_dog]

Hey Jim,

I live in south east Texas and we do a lot of carp and gar bow fishing. It's a blast! I'll see if I can scan some of my old pics. I got into some carp one time and the smallest was 27 pounds and the biggest was just shy of 43 pounds. We were wading. Damn things would almost knock you over.

Never ate them. Always went into town and gave them away.

 

[Hunt 4 Bucks]

Never ate them. Always went into town and gave them away.

Hey Cur_Dog,

Carp are pretty good smoked, if done right.

Buffalo suckers/carp are a little better.

Have not bow fished since my early 20's, it was cheap entertainment back then. (before I had kids)

I used my deer hunting bow which was a Bear Kodiak Magnum Recurve. A little too much power for bow fishing, but it worked.

It was quite the battle to land a big river carp.

 

[JimA]

This is how I started 38 years ago. Fiberglass recurve with homemade reel taped to bow. I had Lake Huron right behind the house. 8)

I have refined my gear over the years, but I had just as much fun back then.

 

[Hunt 4 Bucks]

Nice vinage picture 8) :yeah:

 

[cur_dog]

great pic!

 

[NEW222]

I haven't gone for a couple of years now, but we went a few times. We shot a few suckers with our compound bows in the falls running into our lake. I have ( somewheres) a Fred Bear fishing kit for my old Whitetail two. I'm glad you brought this up, as I may now need to look for this to try in the spring.

 

[cayuga]

When I was young I had a recurve BEN PEARSON "COUGAR" #55 pound bow with 10 - 32" cedar arrows and full leather quiver I bought second hand for $20.00.

A buddy got me into bow fishing for buffalo carp. What a trip that was. We bought a couple of them fiberglass arrows and since the bow had nothing for attaching anything to it, we rigged a thing off our belts to hold the spool. Then we got his John boat, and things to drink in the event of thirst and went fishing.

We ended up getting a lot of nice carp, soaked from falling over board, and finally home. As I got older and smarter, I promised I would stop that foolishness. Kind of miss it now that I read this thread. I'd like to try to get back into the sport except old age left me unable to draw my bow anymore. Might have to dig out my old spears....

Good luck fishing...

 

[JimA]

Hey Jim,

I live in south east Texas and we do a lot of carp and gar bow fishing. It's a blast! I'll see if I can scan some of my old pics. I got into some carp one time and the smallest was 27 pounds and the biggest was just shy of 43 pounds. We were wading. Damn things would almost knock you over.

Never ate them. Always went into town and gave them away.

Hey cur-dog, Did you ever go after any of those alligator gar down there? We have the short nose and long nose types up here but they look like minnows compared to those monsters. :shock:

 

[cur_dog]

Hey Jim,

I have fished for them and bow hunted for them. My catching was better. No real monster but 5' is still big! :shock:

They have scales so big and thick that it takes a real good hit with those heavy fishing arrows to penetrate. I got off 2 shots once. Missed one and the other it glanced off. :evil:

There are plenty of the long nose ones here.

 

[Redclub]

That brings back memories, When we were kids (grade school) we used to take our bows with cedar arrows (priest made them) and go along the creeks in springtime and shoot northern pike We would walk several miles along these creeks,one person on one side another on the other and the northerns would scoot out, and they could go fast, we would shoot and chase them up and down the banks We didn't have string on our arrows as the creeks were not that wide. We shot a lot of northerns that way .
Of course it was illegal but wardens never bothered us kids It was different times (late 40's) One time we shot a huge northern 25#+ and a guy came down there and told us we were violating but he would take the fish so we wouldn't get in trouble. We were kids but not dumb ones. Most of the time we would take the fish to the local tavern and the guys would look at them and pat us on the back, man were we proud. Then they would put them in a bag so we carry them home on our bikes. Some times we would get a big snapping turtle and we would trade the tavern keeper for a arrow.Now you tell what was more fun that or nowadays kids doing computer games?
Ken